A General Catalytic Methylation of Amines Using Carbon Dioxide

Putting CO2 to work: Carbon dioxide is shown to be a general and selective methylating reagent for secondary and primary, aromatic and aliphatic amines under reductive conditions. A variety of tertiary amines are obtained from CO2 and commercially available silanes in high yields with good tolerance to nitrile, olefin, ether, ester, and hydroxy groups.